Planapalooza Hoping to Take West Fargo into the Future

Planapalooza is a weeklong event to citizen input on what they would like to change in the city of West Fargo

WEST FARGO, N.D. — Planapalooza is hoping to help the city of West Fargo transform into an all new and improved West Fargo 2.0.

As people, we’re constantly working on becoming the best version of ourselves, which doesn’t happen overnight.

The city of West Fargo and the West Fargo Park District are hosting Planapalooza, hoping to do just that for the city.

“We’re planning for the future. Nobody’s more expert on this place than the citizens here,” said Brian Wright, who is a principle with Urban Design Collaborative.

Planapalooza is a public design and input process which invites the community to work directly with neighbors to help draft a new comprehensive plan for West Fargo.

“What we want to do is understand what the citizens are looking for and then see how we can help figure out ideas to help achieve those goals,” said Wright.

Plans include bike-ways, parks, open spaces and transportation.

But the list doesn’t end there.

“Not just streets, but housing, economics, businesses,” said Tim Solberg, who is a senior planner with West Fargo. “Just trying to understand what people are looking for.”

Hands-on workshops are available throughout the weekend for community members to go into detail about what they like or dislike about the city.

However, planners say with the West Fargo charm in people, sometimes it’s hard to get their input.

“Everybody’s so nice and so polite,” said Wright. “They don’t want to be a bother or say something that they don’t like.”

They said the only way to see a change is to speak up.

“Don’t hold back. Just tell us everything. Even if you’re a little embarrassed to say it,” said Wright.

“Even little issues,” added Solberg. “It doesn’t have to be the big dream. “It can be the ‘I like more walkability’ or ‘I like to see the neighborhood where I can get to my grocery store quicker’ or something like that.”

Although it seems West Fargo is headed in the right direction, planners said it’s still a work in progress.

“This isn’t the whole process. This is just the beginning,” said Wright.

A review event will be held in order to provide the public with updates.

Planapalooza will continue tomorrow with discussion on open spaces, natural resources, sustainability and resiliency.

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